(Updated now with poll) E3: Zelda Breath of the Wild Vs Horizon Zero Dawn = which one has the "wow factor"?

[Normchacho]

sc94597 said:

I already explained why it seems empty. It is much larger scaled. That doesn't necessarily mean there is less to do, or that the world is worse off for it. How about you compare Zelda U to Uncharted or Far Cry 4. Other action-adventure semi/open-world games. The environment density is similar. Why? Because the focus of these games is exploration, because they aren't RPGs. 

And no I didn't act like there aren't other methods of transportation in open world RPGs. But they are still vastly more limiting. The open-world games with the best transportation methods are all action-adventure games (i.e Far Cry 3/4, Uncharted, etc.) In a role-playing game you might have a horse just so you can get from point A to point B faster. And then there is always a method of fast travel. This isn't true for action-adventure games though. The point of transportation is so that you can access places you couldn't access without these methods. 

There is a balance. For a game that focuses on exploration there has to be a "sense of realism" not perfect 1:1 realism. For a role-playing game that doesn't focus on exploration (some do - like the Elder Scrolls Series) the "sense of realism" is less important. 

Again, it all comes down to the genres you are comparing. 

Compare Far Cry 4 (generally considered one of the best open-world games) to Zelda. How dense is that world? 

 

 

 

Wyrdness said:

You're not getting the point, you're saying that it has less wildlife running around or what not but that is made up by the sheer number of activities you're doing, the game doesn't need what you're complaining about, those trees you're talking about for example all can be cut down for resources or picked for fruits that grow back, this is something other open world games that have what you say don't feature. In one part of the stream they cut a Skeleton enemy's arm off and picked it up as a weapon and kept it, in another they lit a small fire and the wind caused it to spread and burn down an enemy camp, in another they used their shield as a snow board sliding off a cliff then gliding and latching on to the mountain opposite while another part they vaulted off the horse used the glider to maneuvre in mid air then fire arrows to take down a mini boss that they encountered while exploring.

The new Zelda is not the only game to do some of the things it does but having played a load of open world games including recent ones I can't think of one that does eveything I seen it does in one package with out the use of mods, you're arguning one major thing across all games which is fair enough but from the stream the are a tonne of little things in the new Zelda under the surface that make up a far bigger picture.

Alright, lets get this done in one post since the replies were going to be pretty similar anyways.

1. Uncharted is not an open/semi-open world game. Not by any stretch. ND calls 4 "Wide linear" but that's very different from the types of game we're talking about.

2. Pick an argument. Either it's not empty compared to other open world games, or it's okay that it's empty compared to other open world games. You can't have both. The latter, mind you, I agree with. It's fine that the world isn't quite as fleshed out as other games. I'm sure it will still be a great game.

3. The only thing I'm arguing is that when someone says "World seems a little empty" they are making a valid point. That is a valid criticism of what we've seen so far. So when you bring up things like "wait wait wait! But, you can snowboard! aaannndd you can pick fruit!...aaannnddd...an empty world is more realistic!" none of that matters. If the actual world the game is played in isn't as full or lively as the world of most other modern open world games, it's emptier. The why doesn't matter.

4. Far Cry 4 is a terrible example to try and prove your point. First of; There are so, so, so, many ways to get around in that game, and secondly; the game is way more lively that what we've seen of BotW. Like...way, way more lively.

5. It may not seem like it, but I'm actually really excited for this game. But it's not infalible, and we need to stop acting like anyone who isn't 100% over the moon over every second of footage is biased or ignorant.